


Cole, Varric and a Nug

by Multiduel



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Childhood Memories, Family Bonding, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Nugs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-03-28
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:14:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23358337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Multiduel/pseuds/Multiduel
Summary: Cole finds a nug and Varric gets a glimpse of the original Cole
Comments: 4
Kudos: 27





	Cole, Varric and a Nug

Varric grunted as he pressed a cloth against the gash on his arm. Damn bears. This was why he preferred the relative safety of Kirkwall. At least the Templars were easier to see coming, and more willing to take a bribe. The dwarf felt an unpleasant twist in his stomach as he thought of the city. The piles of rubble that cluttered every street, the steady groan of half-destroyed buildings on the verge of collapse, the layer upon layer of missing posters that covered every available surface. Hastily scrawled pictures and brief descriptions of men, women, children, mages, templars, elves and humans. Missing, buried, lost. He vaguely wondered if anyone would put up a poster with his face. If anyone would even notice he was no longer around. Cassandra had dragged him away pretty quickly, throwing him onto a ship almost as soon as he’d finished explaining what had happened. Three months. He’d been with the Inquisition for three months. Andraste’s ass. So much had happened in such a short space of time. It was like a poorly written novel, where all the action was crammed into the first few chapters, not giving the reader time to catch their breath.  
Something moved behind him making him jump and scramble for where Bianca was lying about a meter away. Rolling forward at a speed that surprised even himself he yanked Bianca up, pointing her straight at where the movement had come from.

“You know you’d be dead before you pulled the trigger.”

Varric quirked his eyebrow and lowered Bianca till she pointed at the ground. He used her to push himself up onto his feet and smirked at the mage now stood opposite him.  
“My humblest apologies my lady, I thought you were a bear.”

Vivienne huffed slightly, dusting off the edges of her robes.

“I’ll try to not take that as an insult.”

Varric chuckled and shuffled back to his previous position. He had no doubt that anytime he did manage to insult the enchanter, he probably wouldn’t live long enough to regret it. Vivienne spoke again as he moved.

“I came to tell you to put a leash on your demon before I banish it.”

Varric did his best not to roll his eyes.

“Cole isn’t a demon nor is he mine. If you have a problem with him just tell him to stop.”

Vivienne bristled, the air around them both seeming to drop several degrees in the same instant.

“I have, several times. It persists. I do not want it addressing me.”

Varric sighed, crossing his arms over his chest.

“He’s not doing any harm.”

Vivienne scowled.

“It is a demon. That is all it will ever do.”

With that, the enchanter walked away, the tails of her robes flowing behind her as she strutted over the grass and into the makeshift campsite they had set up for the night. From his current position, Varric watched her march straight up to where the Inquisitor was speaking to a couple of scouts and begin to deliver no doubt the same lecture, he’d just been given. He flicked his gaze to the direction Vivienne had come from. He couldn’t see Cole from here, but he suspected he was over there. He quickly swung Bianca over his shoulder, clipping her into the holder on his back, and wandered off in search of the spirit.

He walked for about a minute, down towards where the river ran nearby. He spotted the large broad brimmed hat a little way downstream and made his way towards it. Cole was sitting with his back towards Varric and didn’t look round as the dwarf approached. The spirit was hunched over, looking at something he was holding in his lap. Varric stopped when he stood a couple of meters away and tilted his head slightly to try and see what the boy was doing.

“What ya got there Kid?”

Cole froze and slowly turned his head. Varric could just about make out a flash of pale eyes underneath the rim of the hat.

“She is frightened.”

Varric raised an eyebrow.

“The Iron Lady? Nah, she’ll be fine. But you should be careful, one of these days she may actually follow through with her threats.”

Cole blinked at him then shook his head. He turned his gaze back down towards whatever he was cradling. Varric frowned and moved around the boy till he stood in front of him, beginning to kneel down in the grass.

“What have you-oh.”

Once he was low enough to see under the hat, Varric spotted a small set of pink ears peeking out from Coles lap. A set of beady black eyes almost seemed to narrow in suspicion at the dwarf.

“Not sure what I expected really.”

Cole gave a small smile at the creature he was cradling. Varric ran a hand over his face, chuckling into his palm.

“I’m almost afraid to ask, but why have you got a nug?”

Cole moved his hands, scooping the creature up and holding it out towards Varric with the utmost care.

“She was sacred. The demons came and they chased her away from her home. She needs help.”

Varric craned his head to try and look round the rodent being waved in his face to look at Cole.

“You can speak to nugs?”

Cole lowered the creature back down and held it to his chest, using one hand to stroke behind its ears.

“Nugs are kind, almost everything is bigger than they, but they're still happy.”

Varric smiled and shook his head.

“I’ll take that as a yes.”

The nug chirped its strange squeaking sound, stretching itself to allow Coles’ fingers to reach more of its skin. Varric watched the strange scene for a few moments, Cole seemed genuinely pleased with his new companion, making soft cooing sounds as he rocked the small thing back and forth. He kept his eyes down when he broke the silence.

“He always wanted a pet.”

Varric looked up, confusion staining his features.

“Who did Kid?”

Cole didn’t answer straight away, just kept his eyes on the thing in his lap. His expression was distant, as if he was looking at something that wasn’t there.

“He found a cat in the street, it was hurt. But he didn’t take it home.”

Cole raised his head and looked directly at Varric. The expression on the boy's face sent a small shiver down the writer’s spine.

“It would only get hurt more if he did.”

Cole dropped his head again. A few more minutes passed, only the sound of the creatures chirping and the running water filling the air. Cole put the nug down on the grass in between the two of them. The rodent shuffled around on the ground, pressing its nose into Varric's knee. The dwarf reached down and tentatively ran one of his fingers over the things bare skin. It was weirdly smooth. Cole drew his knees up to his chin, his eyes fixed on nothing in particular.

“He spoke to the rats in the Spire. They were the only other things there.”

Varric felt his blood run cold. Cole began to pull his knees in tighter, trying to make himself as small as possible, as if attempting to hide.

“They weren’t afraid of him. They knew he wasn’t going to hurt them.”

Varric stood quickly, moving over to Cole, taking the spirits' hands away from where they had begun to press against the boy's ears.

“Easy Kiddo, you’re okay, you’re not there. You’re safe.”

Cole didn’t respond, just began to rock slowly where he was sitting. Varric cursed under his breath and looked about for something to help. The nug had scurried off a few paces, watching them from the river's edge. Varric made a dash and nabbed it as it tried to run away. He did his best to grip it in such a way that it wouldn’t bite him and wrestled it over to where Cole was still sitting.

“Come on Kid, you said you were gunna help this thing, right?

Cole stopped rocking and tilted his head up. He blinked at the creature that was squirming around in the dwarf's grip. He frowned then nodded, reaching up and taking the nug before it bit anyone. As soon as he had his hands on it the small creature instantly stilled and began to chirp again. Varric huffed out a small sigh and rubbed his forehead with the edge of his sleeve. Cole resumed stroking the nug, a soft smile reappearing on his lips.

“She wants to go home.”

Varric breathed a sigh of relief and slight surprise that his plan had actually worked and moved round to Cole’s side.

“Well, why don’t we head back to the others and we can figure out how to do that, yeah?”

Cole looked up and gave a small nod. He wrapped his skinny arms around his new friend and slowly got to his feet. Varric put a hand on the small of the spirits back, gently leading him back towards the campsite.

“Say Kid, if you can talk to animals, you think you could tell the bears to leave us alone?”

“I like bears, the cubs play games in the trees.”

“Never mind.”


End file.
